Changing Organisational Culture: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

In the early 1980s the term ‘organisational culture’ appeared in practitioner management publications, and was no longer confined to research literature (Neubauer 2003). Books by Deal and Kennedy (1982, 2000) and Peters and Waterman (1982) draw attention to this term, and with the success of books such as In Search of Excellence (Peters and Waterman 1982), the topic of organisational culture suddenly became a part of many discussions between CEOs and consultants. Organisations were searching for mechanisms that would help them to positively differ from competitors and thereby be more successful. For example, Peters and Waterman (1982) presented data leading to the conclusion that successful (and outstanding) organisations would rest upon a system of values that would be visible. This prompted many organisations to start working upon values and how to make them visible.